Incorporates test-takers' sociodemographic characteristics and state participation rates into an educational production function using the 1991 state-level Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) data. Test-takers' sex, income, and parents' education are important determinants of student performance, in addition to the state participation rate. Adjusted…

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is often used to measure educational performance at national, state, and local levels. Because participation rates differ considerably, such comparisons are invalid. This article proposes a regression model framework for adjusting SAT scores. Results are validated by comparing adjusted SAT scores with state…

Reanalysis with updated exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic methods of correlation matrices for 21 structure-of-intellect divergent production tests from the University of Southern California Aptitude Research Project suggests that the results cannot be replicated and support a higher order 2-factor oblique model of covariance among test…

A study examined the variance in the mathematical problem-solving ability of 34 vocational agricultural teachers. The relationship between the number of college-level mathematics courses completed and mathematical ability was negative and nonsignificant. (JOW)

Investigated whether psychologists possess psychometric knowledge necessary to evaluate discrepancies within individual's test performance with sufficient accuracy to ensure reliable decision making. Only 8.7% of 287 school psychologists were able to correctly evaluate whether 4 sets of ability-achievement scores reflected chance measurement…

Describes three assumptions regarding treatment utility of assessment not supported by objective data: aptitude-treatment interactions do not provide valid basis for treatment selection; individualized assessment is better than nonindividualized assessment; and assessment improves consultation treatment. Proposes agenda to provide an objective,…

Interviews with 12 adults in General Educational Development classes, four adults in basic math, and 22 preservice teachers assessed their understanding of the part-whole concept, a key element in math success. Gaps in understanding were found in all three groups. (SK)

College students (n=103) cited past performance as the most influential basis for their efficacy beliefs about mathematics. Women cited physiological reactions and teaching quality more often than men did. Thought-listing procedures proved a useful means of studying phenomena not measured by standard psychometric means. (SK)

Results of profile analysis via multidimensional scaling (PAMS), a technique for studying the most prominent profiles in a battery of measures, are reported for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (WAIS) and the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB). PAMS profiles and the methodological features of the PAMS approach are discussed. (SLD)

Review of tests of musical aptitude indicates that objective assessment of such aptitude is not included in standard career assessment batteries. Reasons include a general decline in use of aptitude measures, less support for artistic/musical aptitudes compared to other fields, and lack of documentation of their applicability to career counseling.…

Discusses the long-term estrangement of psychology and educational testing, a breach that occurred as a result of differences in the goals of experimental psychologists and correlational psychologists who studied the measurement of aptitude and ability. Discusses the development of a new field merging modern knowledge of cognition and learning and…

Five experiments investigated whether adults and preschool children can perform simple arithmetic calculations on non-symbolic numerosities. Previous research has demonstrated that human adults, human infants, and non-human animals can process numerical quantities through approximate representations of their magnitudes. Here we consider whether…

This study examined the relationship between emotion regulation, language ability, and reticent behavior in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typical peers. Participants included 43 children with SLI and 43 typically developing children, for a total sample of 86 participants. Children were selected from 2 age ranges: 5-8…

It was during the early 1990s that the author began to suspect that teenagers were reading less--and less deeply--than they had been 10 and certainly 20 years ago. He found this paradoxical, because it was during the 1990s that SAT scores seemed to soar along with the economy. Students talked about them constantly, like securities traders in a…

Kanazawa [Kanazawa, S. (2006). IQ and the wealth of states. "Intelligence," 34, 593-600.] offered estimates of state IQ derived from SAT data. The purpose of this commentary is to argue that state preferences for the use of the ACT versus the SAT create biased estimates of SAT-derived state IQ for states where the ACT is more frequently…